A lot of people will be curious at first and want to look at things on the LEAF the first year or so. I would rather not have the general public, in a parking lot, have access to the charging plugs under the hatch door. Who knows, the black caps on the plug might become a little "trophy" in some neighborhoods like the metal Mercedes logo. Of course, I can't see anyone hanging it on a chain around their neck.

I like the locked hatch door.

I park in my garage, push button to open hatch, walk to charger, plug in charger, go in the house to enjoy my evening and the car takes care of itself when programmed. I can handle this.

It might be that the e-hatch is latched because of its location on the very front of the vehicle. If the wind flipped it open at 90 mph, it might rip right off --or at least have its hinges damaged. I know that the hoods on my current vehicles have a second, manual safety catch on them precisely to avoid such a mishap, should I accidentally hit the release lever in the cabin.

There is a small battery that keeps the odometer and seat position and radio stations etc etc...i will assume the charge hatch is also linked to this small battery for opening when larger battery is dead.

yes, it only makes sense that all of the cars accessories (radio, gps, headlights, running lights, etc) run off the 12V battery, similar to how Toyota does it with the Prius. There is no doubt a DC-DC inverter that steps the high voltage battery pack down to 12V to keep the 12V accessories running, and keep the 12V battery charged.

mitch672 wrote:yes, it only makes sense that all of the cars accessories (radio, gps, headlights, running lights, etc) run off the 12V battery, similar to how Toyota does it with the Prius. There is no doubt a DC-DC inverter that steps the high voltage battery pack down to 12V to keep the 12V accessories running, and keep the 12V battery charged.

That is also what the small solar panel on the spoiler does. It helps maintain a charge on the 12v battery so that you don't have to use (as much) power from the main pack running through a dc-dc converter to charge the 12v accessory battery.

My Xebra has a manual hatch. I prefer that, because otherwise I forget. I'm always forgetting to release the hatch on the stinker, and then I have to reach back in the car. On the stinker it makes sense, for the reasons mentioned above. But for the EV it's not needed. As for the problems related to its being on the front, it could be designed so the wind of driving pushes it closed rather than open.

Cars (and other stuff) often have electronic controls, just for the sake of gadgetry, where manual controls would be better. I liked the manual heating controls on my old Civic much better than the electronic touch controls on my Prius. Count me as one vote in favor of no electronic "filler" hatch for the Leaf.

Reserved afternoon of 4/20."You can order" email late September, but was out of the country so...Ordered very early October.Dashboard says: more of the usual worthless Nissan b.s.(Not on spreadsheet cuz I can't figure it out.)

Gavin wrote:There is a small battery that keeps the odometer and seat position and radio stations etc etc...i will assume the charge hatch is also linked to this small battery for opening when larger battery is dead.

Actually, the odometer and seat position will be kept indefinitely without any power at all. (But with the seat, that's just because the car has manual seat adjustments.)